diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 6e3caa48..f2b961bb 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 2014-06-07  Jay Berkenbilt  <ejb@ql.org>
 
+	* MS Visual C++ build: explicitly target Windows 5.0.1 (XP)
+
 	* New example program: pdf-split-pages: efficiently split PDF
 	files into individual pages.
 
diff --git a/make/msvc.mk b/make/msvc.mk
index bef53957..a8681173 100644
--- a/make/msvc.mk
+++ b/make/msvc.mk
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ endef
 # Usage: $(call makelib,objs,library,ldflags,libs,current,revision,age)
 define makelib
 	cl /nologo /O2 /Zi /Gy /EHsc /MD /LD /Fe$(basename $(2))$(shell expr $(5) - $(7)).dll $(1) \
-		/link /incremental:no \
+		/link /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE,5.01 /incremental:no \
 		$(foreach L,$(subst -L,,$(3)),/LIBPATH:$(L)) \
 		$(foreach L,$(subst -l,,$(4)),$(L).lib)
 	if [ -f $(basename $(2))$(shell expr $(5) - $(7)).dll.manifest ]; then \
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ endef
 # Usage: $(call makebin,objs,binary,ldflags,libs)
 define makebin
 	cl /nologo /O2 /Zi /Gy /EHsc /MD $(1) \
-		/link /incremental:no /OUT:$(2) \
+		/link /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE,5.01 /incremental:no /OUT:$(2) \
 		$(foreach L,$(subst -L,,$(3)),/LIBPATH:$(L)) \
 		$(foreach L,$(subst -l,,$(4)),$(L).lib)
 	if [ -f $(2).manifest ]; then \